My Cataclysm Plans - Version 1.0

Now that we are so close to Cataclysm, I have started focusing more and more on what I will be doing when Cataclysm hits.  Here is my likely list of what on my order of things in Cataclysm.

1) Druid to 85 - No question about this.  Unfortunately, because of my surgery, I will not be able to take the rest of the week of 12/7 to level him to 85, but I will do it every night.  To get ready, I'm gonna go fill my questlog up to the maximum number of quest and turn them all in after Cataclysm hits to help speed the process along.  I would like to tank my way to 85, but since I have to find the dungeon entrances and I'm sure they may be phased, I will have to quest some.

2) Heroic Dungeon Tanking To Get Starting Raiding Gear - Instant queues and lots of nice blues or even starter level epics.  I also will have some Justice Points saved up from the time before Cataclysm starts.

3) Raiding on the Druid - Get back in the routine and start raiding all the endgame stuff.

4) Mage to 85 - Get my first alt up to 85.

5) Level Tailoring/Leatherworking/Enchanting up to 525 - Leatherworking may make my DK finish leveling his skinning quicker to get to level 78 so he can skin.

6) Finish Jewelcrafting - May make my dwarf hunter, who is in the 60s, a miner for that reason.  Well, that and blacksmithing for my paladin.

7) Heroic Dungeons/Raiding on my Mage - I have to gear up my mage.

8) Level Other Alts - I have a feeling this won't be until 4.1  hits because there is so much to do.

9) Archeology - As fun as that sounds, it can wait.

What are your plans for Cataclysm?  I would love to hear your opinions about what you are doing once Cataclysm hits.

4.0.1's Most Annoying Bugs

As with every single patch, there is inevitably going to be bugs.  Some are minor and unnoticeable usually.  Others make you want to pull your hair out by the roots.  Here are my most annoying bugs of 4.0.1. from least to most.

4) Trial of the Champion Lance Disconnect - As someone who has basically stopped doing the Argent Tourney stuff, I usually don't have a lance on me.  So when I get Trial of the Champion 5 man, I have to get a lance off the shelf.  Every single time I have done that, I have disconnected from the game.  Usually, I can get back in before they actually start the fight, but it still is annoying.

3) Headless Horsemen Disconnect - Tanks are cowering at clicking the pumpkin to start the Headless Horsemen fight.  Not that the fight is overly difficult, but it seems that a lot of people are immediately disconnecting.  Pretty much every Headless Horsemen fight, the tank ask for someone else to start it.  I volunteered to once and it just immediately kicked me out.

2) Teleport Out of Dungeon Bug  - Sometimes, you are looking through your bags and you are the last person left in a 5 man.  This means that you can't leave group because nobody else is there.  However, you can usually press the Teleport Out of Dungeon bug and it will drop you up where you queued from.  However, after 4.0.1, it seems to bug out every so often.  This leaves one of two options.  Either you hearth or you run back to the start of the instance.  Both options are kind of annoying.

1) The ICC Rez Bug - This is the one that pisses me off more and more everyday.  If you have a wipe in ICC, when you release one of two things can happen.  Either you are a ghost in the graveyard and can just go back into the raid normally or you rez fully at the graveyard.  If you rez fully at the graveyard, gankers are taking advantage of this bug to get some free honor kills.  Then when you die, you run into the rez timer so you have to wait 30 seconds before you can rez again, where the ganker will inevitably kill you again.  It then becomes an endless cycle until somebody kills the ganker, which won't be you because you won't have full health or mana.  It makes me want to strangle a puppy every time it happens.

I'm sure there are some more bugs, but those are the ones that are driving me nuts right now.  What bugs have you run into in game after the patch.

The Benefits of Competition

Sometimes as people who have been raiding for a long time, we get comfortable.  Sometimes, too comfortable.  We know when it is time to raid, what to do, and do what we can.  But it also can be at times that you do the same thing over and over again and get very comfortable.

However, if you want to light a fire under your ass in raiding, bring another person of the same class and spec as you into a raid.  My guild is currently trying out a new moonkin who applied.  Last night going into the raid, I had one goal in my mind.  Outperform this guy on every standard whether DPS, raid awareness, being where I need to, etc.  Not that our raid couldn't use two moonkins.  I personally feel the more druids, the happier the raid.  However, being the person who has been in the guild longer, I felt it necessary to outperform him.

Competition is healthy and good, especially for raiders.  As we get comfortable with fights and raiding, we have a tendency to get lazy and make mistakes we normally wouldn't.  Competition will snap you out of it in a hurry.  When you know that you want to excel in performance, you get more on your game.  It is the same way athletes thrive on competition.  They are good normally, but in the heat of competition, some people excel and some people fall. 

In addition, it shows you take pride in what you do.  It allows you to say that I am up to this certain standard and I'm able to compete with any person who steps into this raid of my class and spec.  It allows me to say that I do everything that I can to the best of my ability.   

However, this can go too far as well.  The whole problem with Gear Score is people judging people by their gear instead of their performance.  It is a very bad way to be competitive.  However, it is better to be competitive on things that matter, like DPS or being where you need to be in certain circumstances.  Some things matter in competition but some things mean very very little.  It is important to find what things are okay to be competitive with and what things are not.

So the next time your guild recruits somebody of the same class as  you, don't demean their gear or put them down unless they truly deserve it.  Instead, look at it as competition that will raise your game to the next higher level.  Trust me, you will be thankful for it.

Christmas in July Contest - The Results

A couple weeks ago, I gave an update on the current results of the Christmas in July Contest.  Here were the winners of the first two questions.

Cataclysm Release Date Announced (10/4/10):  Loganw (Guess was 9/23/10)

Cataclysm Release Date (12/7/10): Alero (Guess was 12/1/10)

However, at that time, there was one question that was still up in the air.  The release date of 4.0, which actually turned out to 4.0.1.  Here were the top three winners for that question.  Remember, it has to be the closest without going over.

4.0.1 Release Date (10/12/10)

1) One Tree Heal (Guess was 10/10/10)

2) Natrii (Guess was 9/21/10)

3) Alero (Guess was 9/17/10)

So, as I thought was possible, we have three different people closer on one of the dates a piece.  This means we have to go to the tiebreaker.  The tiebreaker is who is the closest on all their guess by the least number of days.  This doesn't matter if it is over or not, it is just who is the closest.  Let us start with Loganw, then One Tree Heal, then Alero.

Loganw Tiebreaker

Cataclysm Release Date Announced: 9/23/10 (Off by 11 days)

4.0 Release Date: 11/15/10 (Off by 34 days)

Cataclysm Release Date: 12/13/10 (Off by 6 days)

Total Days Off By: 51 Days

One Tree Heal Tiebreaker

Cataclysm Release Date Announced: 9/12/10 (Off by 22 days)

4.0 Release Date: 10/10/10 (Off by 2 days)

Cataclysm Release Date: 11/5/10 (Off by 32 days)

Total Days Off By: 56 Days

Alero Tiebreaker

Cataclysm Release Date Announced: 8/25/10 (Off by 40 days)

4.0 Release Date: 9/17/10 (Off by 25 days)

Cataclysm Release Date: 12/1/10 (Off by 6 days)

Total Days Off By: 71 Days

So, here is the final lineup of winners from this contest.

1st Place (FigurePrint of Your Character): Loganw

2nd Place (Warcraft Razer Mouse): One Tree Heal

3rd Place (PrintCraft Poster): Alero

Also, as a treat to Loganw, who is a close follower of the site, I give him this.

Congratulations to all the major prize winners.  But we are not done with prizes yet.  Yes, we have some authenticators to award.  Any of the current prize winners are ineligible but I'm randomly drawing for the three authenticators.  The random drawing is being done thanks to random.org.  The number comment you were determined what number you were in the generator.

Authenticator Winners

1) Brandon

2) Antlergirl

3) Natrii

All the winners will be contacted by e-mail although I hope they read it here first.  Congratulations to all the Christmas in July Contest Winners.

My Moonkin 4.0.1 Impressions

After only getting one blog post last week and still recovering from surgery, I am finally back and will be updating back on a normal schedule.  The first thing I want to tackle now that I'm back is my impressions of moonkins after patch 4.0.1.  I think this is best described in this following equation.

4.0.1 Moonkin = 3.3.5 Moonkin + Fire Mage

Now, it may seem a little weird to say it like this, but it is absolutely true.  With the new addition of Shooting Stars and Starsurge, which procs into an instant cast off of Shooting Stars, it seems a lot like Hot Streak proccing instant Pyroblast.   In addition, like a fire mage, we now have no talents that give us hit.  We are required to get all of our hit from spirit or hit on gear. 

The biggest difference however is the short cast time of Starsurge makes it to where we will want to cast it when it is off cooldown, regardless if we have Shooting Stars.  Shooting Stars just resets the cooldown and makes it an instant cast so we can get more in.  Mages may stick a Pyroblast in there every so often, but they would much rather just proc Hot Streak from Fireballs due to the long cast time of Pyroblast.

The other major changes come in the way of our DoTs.  Before, you would cast the DoTs, Moonfire and Insect Swarm, when you don't have an Eclipse.  Now, you will cast them both at the beginning of an Eclipse.  The other change in our DoTs is Moonfire changes to Sunfire when you proc a Solar Eclipse.  In other words, I would not macro the two DoTs together because there is no way (at least, I know of no way) to macro for Sunfire.  Also, Faerie Fire's use has gone down drastically since you don't need the 3% hit.  We have a feral tank and he needs it for aggro, so I just let him cast it now.

With reforging, after patch 4.0.1 hit, I was at 27% hit due to the benefit of spirit changing to hit.  So, when it comes to reforging, here is the order I reforged since you can only reforge each piece of gear once.

1) Reforge excess spirit or hit to haste or crit depending on the gear. (Reforging for some reason only allows to change some pieces to just haste, just crit, or haste or crit.  If I had a choice, I always leaned towards haste.)

2) Reforge 40% crit into haste if possible.

 

The final thing is the timing of Starfall.  Most places I have researched say cast Starfall during Lunar Eclipses if it is off cooldown.  Now, there are some situations where you may want to cast it off Lunar Eclipse.  The best example I can think of is Valks during Lich King.  If people are getting close to the edge of going off and my Starfall is off cooldown, even if it is not a Lunar Eclipse, I'm casting it to save them from going over.  It may not be the max DPS, but it becomes situational.  That is why I would say use in a Lunar Eclipse, but be mindful of specific situations.

So, as you see, a lot of what moonkins do stay the same, but there are some new tricks up our sleeve to use.  I definitely saw a DPS increase although I was using a laptop that was topping out at 10 FPS during some boss fights.  Tonight, since I'm back on my main computer, I'm expecting it to go up even higher.  Also, a lot of this information has come from other bloggers like Qieth's Quips and Gray Matter, so I encourage you to check them out since they go into more theorycrafting than I do.

Also, come back tomorrow because I will announce the winner of the Christmas In July contest where someone will win a FigurePrint of their character.

And damn, it feels good to be back.

Little Surprises of 4.0.1

Blizzard decided that the day I got into surgery would be a very good day to release the patch 4.0.1 to the live servers.  While I have been at my parent's house recovering from surgery, I got to play around with the patch on all my alts and I found some stuff that I kind of expected and some that were kind of a surprise.  So, let me go through a few quick things that I have found surprising to 4.0.1.

1) Runeforging Heirlooms -  I was playing around on my DK with the new tanking spec when I just decided to try to runeforge my heirloom sword.  And it actually worked.  I don't know if it was intended, but it worked perfectly.

2) Reforging Only Works For iLevel 200 - I was hoping that heirlooms and other gear would be able to be reforged, but there is a limit so that it only works on iLevel 200 gear and higher.  I'm assuming we will be able to reforge the greens and blues in Cataclysm from level 80 - 85, but right now, it is not.

3) You Can Pay For 310% Speed Now - Of course, if you just bought regular flying, it will 5k gold for epic flying and 5k for what is called "Master Flying". You can still get mounts for the "Glory of...." achievements, but they will only be 280% until you buy "Master Flying"   The one exception is "What a Long Strange Trip It Has Been" if you are currently in the middle of it.  My guess is that you cannot start it now and get it a year from now.

4)  Water Missing - This may just be me, but I have run into several areas where the water is just gone.  Now, if you jump in, you will hit water and your breathe thing will pop up, but otherwise, it is gone.  I can't tell if it is a bug or not, but it is just weird.


5) Earthquakes Up - Up until 4.0.1, I had not experienced any of the pre-Cataclysm earthquakes.  Now, if I'm in Ironforge, I experience them about every 10 minutes.  I'm sure they will become more frequent as we get closer to Cataclysm.

I know there are a lot of other cool things with 4.0.1 and this week, I will try to bring out some of the things I have noticed about moonkins and tanks.  Also, this week, I will announce the winners of the contest because I'm sure they will want to get their statues, mouses, and authenticators for Cataclysm.

Also, I hoped you got to listen to both of the podcast from the Shift Happens roundtable and Leet Sauced.  I had a great time doing both of them, although I was in a more chemically enhanced mood for the Leet Sauced podcast, something that I won't be able to do now that I have had surgery.

Redhawkenomics - My Attempts at Auction House Playing and Market Manipulation

So, I broke down and with the news of guild chat, I decided to go ahead and get the remote AH.  Plus, it will be handy when I'm leveling and not at my computer to get rid of all the stuff I find.  But it also has got me very interested in playing the AH.  I would like to recount three stories of playing the Auction House.

1) Primordial Saronite - The Primordial Saronite on my market is really depressed.  I mean, really depressed.  Last night, I was able to buy 5 Primordials for 1500 gold.  However, my mage, Redrobin, is a 450 tailor with one 264 pattern, the Deathfrost Boots.  I have made two sets of the boots.  My mats cost less than 1750 gold per boots if I have to buy the Primordials.  My first pair sold for 3,500 gold.  My second pair is currently on the AH for 4,000 gold.  I'm using the Primordials I get from raiding and getting 24 Frost badges per week just for clearing 25 man ICC, sending them to Redrobin, making profit from tailoring.

2) Tankard O' Terror - On Tuesday, Brewfest ended, which means no more Tankards until next year, which will all be level 85.  There were 17 Tankards on the AH that were less than 100 gold.  The other 2 were 380 gold and 1200 gold.  I bought all 17 of the cheap tankards and relisted them for 300 gold each.  I don't know how well this will go, especially with Cataclysm announced for 12/7/10, but worst case scenario, I send them to my enchanter, disenchant them, shatter them, and put them up on the AH during Cataclysm when people are leveling up enchanting.  So the way I look at it, it is medium risk for a pretty good reward if they sell.

3) Flying Carpets - Somebody was trying to undercut the market on Flying Carpets made by tailors by pricing them at about 70 gold.  They tried it twice.  Well, thankfully, all the alts I have in the 60s make it really easy to get mats.  I bought the 70 gold Flying Carpet and relisted it two gold under the other Flying Carpet, which was 290 gold.   I had one sell for that price.  Even if I sell the other for 150 gold, I have made my profit back plus some.

I'm sure there are quite a few more, from disenchanting greens while leveling my paladin/shaman combo to heavy knothide leather, which is really expensive.  I'm not an expert, but I would recommend you go to Just My Two Copper where they are much better at making gold than I am.

Also, this weekend, I will be commencing with other famous druids at Shift Happens: A Druid Round Table.  We have got the recording schedule and I will be with Astrylian from Rawr, Immamoonkin, Keeva, and Hamlet from Elitist Jerks.  I'm looking forward to definitely talking some moonkin and maybe talking a little feral tank as well.

Also, I'm looking for some guest bloggers for the next two weeks while I'm having surgery and recovering.  If you are interested, you can hit me up on Twitter @redhawksgaze or at my e-mail, bigdog1862@yahoo.com. (Also, you can use that e-mail for some RealIDage)

Hey Moonkins, Check Your Gear (So You Don't Get Screwed on 4.0.1)

I was over on the Moonkin Repository, a great resource for moonkins by the way, yesterday where I thought of some things that caster druids will want to check before 4.0.1 hits, which is really looking like it is next week. (Which also happens to be the day of my surgery.  Oh yeah.)  

1) Hit - I'm not expecting this to be too big of an issue because we will have a talent that converts all spirit to hit, but you will want to take a look at your hit rating.  If your caster hit rating is only 10% after 4.0.1, it is not good enough anymore.  In 4.0.1, we are losing hit bonuses to both Balance of Power, which provided 4% of our hit, and Improved Faerie Fire, which provided us 3% of our hit.  This means that our new hit cap will be 446 and will provide all 17% of our hit.  Now, with spirit converting to hit, I'm not anticipating a problem.  However, if you are way over hit cap, like I have a feeling mine will be since I have about 500 spirit from gear and gems (natural spirit does not count in the conversion, only gear, gems, and enchants), you will want to reforge some of your gear to hit close to the hit cap and get more crit or haste.

2) Leather Gear Only - There are some pieces of cloth gear that are BiS for caster druids.  The immediate ones that come to mind are the Crushing Coldwraith Belt off of heroic Marrowgar 25 man and the Plague Scientist Boots off of heroic Festergut 25 man.  Come 4.0.1, you will want to get the 5% intellect bonus from using spellcaster leather, so you will want to make sure all of your pieces are leather.  This means you will likely have to take the best leather BiS piece versus the actual BiS, which may be cloth.

3) Reforge to the Caps - I have not had a chance to play with the gear yet enough on the PTR, but you want to make sure that you are hitting all three of your caps (hit cap, soft haste cap, Lunar Crit Cap).  Reforging gives you the perfect opportunity to do just that.  If you have a lot of haste after gem conversions but not enough crit, you can reforge some gear to get to the crit cap.  If you are way above the crit cap,  you can convert some crit to haste.  Reforging gives a real opportunity to be a little less dependent on the gear we do have and can add a little more skill to it.

So, those are the basic things to get your ready for 4.0.1.  We are going to take on heroic Professor Putricide 25 man on Thursday so, personally, I will be looking for a nice 277 leather belt to replace my current cloth belt to prepare for 4.0.1. 

Also, just a reminder, this week, we are recording the druid roundtable, Shift Happens, with the cast of Raid Warning and some of the biggest moonkin bloggers in the world.  I'm looking forward to a few drinks, a few laughs, and a lot of talking about the balance class and where it is going in Cataclysm.

Also, final thing, since I am having surgery next week and may be out for two weeks, I'm looking for some guest bloggers to do some blog posts to cover for me while I'm out.   If you are interested, you can contact me on Twitter, @redhawksgaze, or you can e-mail me at bigdog1862@yahoo.com.

The Countdown's On - Return of the Bucket List

Props if you understand the reference behind this pic.

In July, I started a bucket list of what I wanted to accomplish in Cataclysm.  Like every good bucket list, it is good to go back and see where you came from and where you are at now and what you have left to accomplish.  Especially considering we now have a definitive date for Cataclysm.  So, here is the list with some of my comments thrown in.

Redhawks

Heroic:  Storming the Citadel (25 Player) - Done

Heroic:  The Plagueworks (10 and 25 Player) - Done

Heroic: The Crimson Hall (10 Player) - Done

Heroic: The Frostwing Halls (10 and 25 Player) - Done and Done

Bane of the Fallen King (10 Player) - We have decided not to try HM LK on 10 or 25.

The Light of Dawn (25 Player) - We have decided not to try HM LK on 10 or 25.

Heroic:  Fall of the Lich King (10 and 25 Player) - No HM LK means this will not happen.

Full House (25 Player) - Done

I'm On a Boat (25 Player) - Done

Dances With Oozes (25 Player) - Done

Flu Shot Shortage (25 Player) - Done

Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion... (25 Player) - Done

Portal Jockey (25 Player) - I missed the day we did this, but it is easy.  Will probably get soon.

All You Can Eat (25 Player) - Done

Been Waiting a Long Time for This (25 Player) - Done

Neck Deep in Vile (25 Player) - Working on it.  Will likely get it this week.

Glory of the Icecrown Raider (10 and 25 Player) - 10 man is done. 25 man will be done soon.

Heroic:  The Twilight Destroyer (25 Player) - We may or may not do this.

Stokin' The Furnace (10 Player) - Since trying to get drakes, we haven't focused on old Ulduar.

Firefighter (10 Player) - Since trying to get drakes, we haven't focused on old Ulduar.

I Love the Smell of Saronite in the Morning (10 Player) - Since trying to get drakes, no Ulduar.

Glory of the Ulduar Raider (10 Player) - Hopefully will have soon once we get ICC drakes.

Observed (10 or 25 Player) - May or may not get to try this out.

A Tribute to Insanity (25 Player) - We are close.  We can get to Anub with all 50 left. Just have to down him in one shot.

Call of the Grand Crusader (25 Player) - When we take down Anub, we will have this.

The Immortal (25 Player) - May do this in off time before Cataclysm.

Earth, Wind, and Fire (10 or 25 Player) - Probably not going to happen. No PUG will do this.

Redrobin    
The Plagueworks (10 Player) - Done

The Crimson Hall (10 Player) - Done

The Frostwing Halls (10 Player) - Done

The Frozen Throne (10 Player) - Done

Fall of the Lich King (10 Player) - Done

So looking at what is actually possible with the guild, there is not a lot left:

Redhawks  

Portal Jockey (25 Player)

Neck Deep in Vile (25 Player)

Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25 Player)

A Tribute to Insanity (25 Player)

Call of the Grand Crusader (25 Player)

Of course, as time goes on, new stuff gets added.  These are the new additions to the bucket list.

Redhawks  

Tailoring to 450

Jewelcrafting to 450

Honor capped

High amount of Justice Points

Redrobin   

310% Mount Without Paying 5k Gold

Honor capped

High Amount of Justice Points

Redider     

Level 78

Skinning to 450

Herbalism to 450

Redvulture   

Level 78

Mining to 450

Start Leveling Blacksmithing

So, some things are done, some things will likely not get done, and new things get added.  Whatever the case, the countdown is on for Cataclysm.  We will have 4.0 in the next few weeks, the world event, and just as the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Deathwing will tear apart Azeroth on 12/7/10. (Too soon?)

Christmas In July Contest Update and Other Site News

Blizzard decided to give us an October present by giving us the release date for Cataclysm.  This means that we have two thirds of our contest set for the Christmas in July contest.  We still need the date for 4.0 to find out the true winner, but here is what we know so far.

Date the Cataclysm Release Date is announced:  10/4/10
Date 4.0 is released:  ????????
Cataclysm Release Date: 12/7/10

When Blizzard sets a date, it is usually set in stone so I'm not anticipating a change.  Assuming the date is correct, here are the winners for the two of the questions that we have an answer for. (Listing first, second, and third place)

Cataclysm Release Date Announced: 

1. Loganw (guess was 9/23/10) 
2. Daniel (guess was 9/20/10) 
3. Maria (guess was 8/31/10)

Cataclysm Release Date:

1. Alero (guess was 12/1/10)
2. Daniel (guess was 11/30/10)
3. Superia (guess was 11/23/10)

Now if you are wondering why you are not the closest, remember the rules stated the closest without going over wins first place for the question.  Now, we are just waiting for the release of 4.0 to determine the winner.  If it is a three way tie for first place, we will go to who was closest by the number of cumulative days on all three of their guesses.

Also, just a reminder that I will be on the next Raid Warning round table: Shift Happens.  You will find a link on the upper right hand side of the blog.  I would encourage you to go back and listen to the other Raid Warning round tables as well as head over to Epic Advice and ask some balance druid questions you want answered on the podcast.

Finally, thank you for continuing to help grow the site.  We have now reached over 100 posts, have had over 5,000 visits, and am quickly approaching 10,000 page views.  I could never have imagined in the few short months I have been doing this that it would hit this kind of level, so that you for your continued support of this blog as we now move forward to Cataclysm.

Accidental Leveling. Yes, It Can Occur.

Let me tell you about my past weekend in WoW.  Not too long ago, I decided to change my main's professions from skinning and mining to leatherworking and jewelcrafting.  Now, the smart thing would have been to drop mining, pick up leatherworking, and go skin all the stuff I need.  For some reason, I was not thinking that day and I dropped both.  Well, I hit level 300 leatherworking and found that Knothide Leather was incredibly expensive on the AH. 

So I had to level up skinning again.  Thankfully, it is relatively easy to level up skinning.  I decided to use my DK, who was level 64 at the time.  Main reason I chose my DK is because DKs start with all the old world flight points which make it very easy to get around.  Plus, I already have flying in Outland on my DK, which makes it even easier.  Well, I got up to level 300 skinning in the old world and knew it was time to go to Outland to level up to 375.  I started killing boars in Hellfire when I remembered that I still get XP for killing Outland mobs.  Before I hit 330, I had hit level 65. 

When I hit 330, I decided to head over to Nagrand to kill all the skinnable mobs over there to get more Knothide Leather.  Before I knew it, I was a fourth of the way to level 66.  I decided that to break up the monotony of skinning, I would queue as DPS in the LFD and do some Outland dungeons.  After a couple dungeons and quite a few skinnings, I was level 66. 

I sent the Knothide Leather to my main and got quite a few more levels (I think it was at 325).  So, it was time to hop back on the DK.  I did some more skinning and a few more LFGs and now I'm level 67.  I am one level away from Northrend and I really didn't even intend it.  I was just skinning.  Because of that, I have now decided to just level up my DK the rest of the way to level 80, mainly because I need to get to level 68 so I can go get some Borean Leather to finish leveling up my leatherworking.  Then I can tank the rest of the way to level 80 once I hit 450 leatherworking. 

You hear funny stories about people leveling up just by going into a new zone.  There are a bunch of other funny ways that I have seen people level up.  What are some of the unusual ways you have seen people level up?

Also, today is a special day.  Expect a second blog post with some exciting info about the Christmas in July contest.  We won't have winners today, but we will have a better idea of who is going to win.